Do you get to go back to Argentina often?
We try to go once a year; it’s important for the same reasons that I give in class with respects to heritage and culture. If you’ve got children, you’ve got to maintain the links with their other culture and language. Even though we don’t spend that long there, I think they’re still bi-cultural. They can speak Spanish and I’m proud of that! What do you think you would have done if you hadn’t come to Durham?
I would have stayed in Argentina. I was an English teacher there, and I was starting to work at the university where I got my degree in Buenos Aires, but I wanted to carry on studying. I was very motivated by what I could study here. I would definitely have done a Master’s, as I don’t think I would have been happy with just the one degree, but when you work at a university in Argentina you can’t just be an academic because what you earn is not enough. However I think I would have done a similar thing- teaching and research was always Photo: flikr.com my plan. What is the best thing about working here at Durham?
The possibilities are endless in an institution like Durham, with such high quality research and teaching. It’s such a pleasure to teach students from all parts of the country, who are so motivated. I miss my country terribly, but on the other hand, I love what I do here and I love my students- I’ve been here for eighteen years now and I wouldn’t go anywhere else! Do you speak any languages other than English and Spanish?
No, but I do have a working knowledge of other languages. Because of my research I’ve had to look at Italian, French, a bit of Portuguese, and then through research you get to know about other languages. My family on both sides are Italian, but they didn’t continue with their Italian, or the dialects they spoke, after moving to Argentina, so I’ve never learnt it. I haven’t had time to go to evening classes…but maybe when I’m less busy! What do you enjoy reading outside of your research?
I used to like to read novels that would take me out of work, but at the moment all I’m reading is papers, books for work, or I go onto websites like UNESCO and other sites that are related to languages. I haven’t really got time to read anything else; if I get into bed with a book I fall asleep! I do love what I read though; at the moment I’m looking for different contact situations, and I’d love to be able to look at Spanish and Arabic- but that’s a huge enterprise. So I don’t just read about what I’m researching, but what I do read is all related. What’s the main advice that you’d like to give to the students studying Spanish here?
Because what we do here tends to be quite intense, and it can be very academic, I would advise them to go out into the real world to be immersed in Spanish as much as possible. I know that you cannot always take a plane and go somewhere, because of time and expense, however now Photo: amodominicana.com with the internet- which we didn’t have in the same form twenty years ago- you can listen to the radio and watch TV online, and be exposed to different Spanish-speaking cultures. Also, see what’s out there in Latin America as well as in Spain, and keep an eye on what’s happening with Spanish in the US. It’s really good to go back in time with the literature and to look at visual culture, but I also think it’s very important to leave the books aside and go and see, through the web if you can’t travel, how the language is developing. Look at how identity is developing; monolingualism is no longer the rule. Identity no longer relies on one language and one culture; it is a much more complex concept. My main advice would be to link what you’re studying with what’s happening out there. Rebecca Kennaugh
12